Time for peace in the Middle East

You cannot extend peace with guns, rockets, tanks or any other means of violence.

You use violence (war) to impose defeat – not peace.

To extend peace requires an open heart, not a closed fist.

What is it about the obvious that the men with guns in the Middle East don’t get?

The conflict in the Middle East has been going on since the 1920s, with increasing levels of violence or warfare from 1948 onwards.

What’s going on there is definitely not about peace. It’s about the other p word: power.

It’s action driven by ideology not compassion or understanding.

Why else would Hamas provoke an Israeli bombardment on Gaza by firing thousands of rockets into Israel?

How many Palestinians have to lose their lives this time? For what?

Hamas has no prospect of winning a military conflict with Israel.

And, let’s not get the idea that Israel is blameless here either.

Gaza is the largest prison on earth.

There’s a wall between Israel and the West Bank.

You’d think that a people who had experienced persecution and holocaust would be less inclined to inflict those experiences on their neighbours.

If you think that’s a bit strong – what’s the difference between being gassed to death in a concentration camp and being bombed to death in your home in Gaza? The victims were locked in the concentration camp and they’re locked in Gaza.

No need to argue over the legalities of it being a war crime. War is a crime against humanity, every time.

Enough!

Time to silence the guns.

Time to step back from the ideology.

Time for Hamas to recognise Israel exists and is not going away.

Time for Israel to drop all the rhetoric about Hamas being a terrorist organisation.

Time to stop blaming each other.

Time to stop denying the present reality.

Time for all sides to start talking honestly.

Time for Hamas to tell their backers they want humanitarian aid and a functioning economy – not guns and rockets.

Time for Israel to tear down the fences and open the borders.

Time for integration not division.

Time for Palestinians and Israeli to embrace each other as brothers and sisters and not enemies.

Time for ordinary citizens to speak up and demand that their leaders listen to them – instead of killing them.